1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication technology, and is more particularly directed to systems and methods for the determination, storage and use of operating mode data for a user terminal in a telecommunication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Users of telecommunication terminals in telecommunication networks, and particularly in mobile communication networks, are virtually always reachable. The current or active operating mode of a mobile station can be selectively changed in a variety of ways, such as through the use of so-called profiles. If the user of a terminal is occupied, as for example when attending an important meeting, the user may for example selectively activate or enable a predefined “meeting” profile in which the mobile station is placed in a silent operating mode and will only notify the user of an incoming call from specific predetermined numbers. The profiles associated with a particular mobile station or terminal are generally defined, selected, and activated by the user of the terminal by means of the terminal itself.
In the system of published International Application WO 00/42784 (Peltola et. al.), the user can change the state (i.e. active/passive) of his or her communication line by separately contacting the network and so instructing a predetermined server.
Published International Application WO 97/41654 (Tsoukas et. al.) discloses a system in which a customer profile associated with the user/customer is stored in a database provided in the telecommunication network. The customer profile may contain a variety of service requests as a function of time and/or location. The data stored in the customer profile are of a triggering nature; the customer can thus define various schedule conditions and limits, e.g. for stock prices. When the conditions thus set are met, the server automatically sends to the customer's terminal a corresponding message, as for example in the form of an SMS (Short Message Service) short message commonly used in mobile communication networks
The system disclosed in published International Application WO 97/41654 accommodates the provision of advertising or services in accordance with the defined profile or location data. This system does not however allow the focus of advertising or services to be dependently applied based on the actual state of the terminal; rather, services are applied based only on information that has been prestored in the profile.
In a telecommunication network, such as a mobile communication network, a reachability management system can be implemented. The user can set up his or her own profile in the reachability management system and elect to define a reachability chain; the reachability chain that is to be used at any given time is identified on the basis of rules stored in the profile. The user can also manually enable or activate a particular reachability chain by sending a specific message to the reachability management system.
Applications contained in terminals, as for example mobile stations and PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) devices, are of a static nature in that such applications are unchangeable. Mobile stations provide fairly limited capabilities for modifying the properties of the mobile station; available modifications are primarily based on or limited to user profiles as discussed hereinabove. In practice, a user can change the type of ring-tone of the mobile station to suit the time and place, but there is no opportunity to adapt the variety of applications contained in the terminal to current circumstances or situations by changing the particular applications in use, the user interface or the operating environment.
It is known to base the transmission or provision of advertisements and services to a terminal on location data or time-based definitions. In a telecommunication network, it is possible to define a user profile on the basis of which advertisements or other services are sent to the user. The profile can for example define certain times of the day at which desired information may be transmitted to the user's terminal. However, these functionalities do not take into account the actual or current active state of the terminal.
One currently-existing problem is the inability of a party trying to reach a B-subscriber to determine whether the B-subscriber is able to receive a connection set-up request, an advertisement or a service. Thus, the party (the A-subscriber) wishing to contact a terminal user (the B-subscriber) has no ability to learn or identify the present state or status of the terminal of the B-subscriber.